Dear County Fair Organizers,

Part of the reason we came to the fair was because of the newspaper articles describing how the fair has been dramatically scaled down and is in danger of closing altogether. I can tell you why. To make it easy, here is a simple list:

Seven dollar burritos

Dollar a piece ride tickets

Five tickets for the ferris wheel

Three tickets for the carousel

Three dollars for lemonade

Fifteen dollars for the Sponge Bob balloon

Five dollars for a pony ride

That said, Willow had a great time*, except when we terrified her by getting near the livestock exhibit. It would have been impossibly expensive if we’d had all the kids with us (the big kids were with their dad). Really, it would have been the price of a few day’s worth of groceries just for lunch. Here’s a photo that sums up the parents’ experience:

* Every time Willow passed by on the little horse, she’d wave at me and yell, "Hi Mama! Lookit my pony! I gots a PONY!!"

I was afraid she’d flip out when she learned that it wasn’t coming home with her, but she didn’t. Later I heard her telling Sophie that someday she would take her to visit her pony.

Bah! Too much marketing! I have a feeling they are raising the vendor fees and that is being passed along to the fair-goers. Or else attendance is low and so they raise prices to make up for it. No excuse though! It’s hard with kids! Heck! It’s impossible to go to the movies, anymore!

Ugh, I hate that. When the number of kids increases – I think about how nice it would be to take my kids to the aquarium, or the science discovery museum, but then I start adding up how much it would cost for everybody’s admission! Wouldn’t it be great if they would do admission for kids, but their adults get in free? Or something?

For big families, aquarium and museum memberships often pay for themselves in one go. The reciprocal benefits are usually restricted on number of kids, but the home museum is almost always parents and kids living in the same household.

Best of all, you can use it to go for a year. I love it even with 2 kids because it means we can go for an hour or two if we’re in the area and not feel like we should have stayed longer to get our money’s worth.